The Met Gala is known as “fashion’s biggest night” — and rightfully so!
While many of us watch from the comfort of our own couches the countless celebrities walking the carpet for a mere minutes of fashion splendor… those few minutes walking up the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s steps is all that it takes for the stylish entrances and looks of the night to reach millions across the globe and become entrenched in fashion lore.
This year’s theme is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” The reference is not to the fairytale, though, but to treasured garments from the vast collection at the Costume Institute — some too fragile to hang upright. Museum curators will place them in glass cases, like Sleeping Beauty herself.
And with Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Chris Hemsworth as co-chairs of this year’s star-studded event, draw-dropping fashion moments will surely take place.
In honor of the big event, we look back at the top 10 most iconic entrances and looks of Met Galas past.
Blake Lively stunning dress transformation
Blake Lively has stunned on every Met Gala carpet she has attended, but her peak fashion moment came in 2022.
The fashion icon shut down the 2022 Met Gala red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 2, 2022 in not one, but two looks by Versace Atelier (see every star on the red carpet here) — as she was the year’s co-chair of the event.
Lively, who arrived on the arm of husband Ryan Reynolds, made an entrance in a sweeping, dramatic copper look that featured a giant bow on her right hip. However, once she got in front of the photographers, a team of assistants unraveled the fabric at the waist, revealing a green look underneath meant to reference the Statue of Liberty for tonight’s theme of “In America: An Anthology of Fashion.”
Lively even swapped copper opera gloves for green ones in a surprising style twist to represent the green patina that now covers Lady Liberty from oxidation.
Her final look was embellished with crystals and featured art deco architecture from the Empire State Building on her bodice. Lively’s train even had “a constellation from Grand Central Station” and “lots of little references” to the Big Apple, as she told E! News exclusively on the red carpet.
The 2022 bash was Lively’s 14th time walking the Met Gala carpet.
Pictures won’t do this dress justice, so here’s a video instead!
Lady Gaga changes her outfit three times during draw-dropping 16-minute entrance
Never one to stray from a statement entrance, Gaga hit the campiest notes at the 2019 Met Gala in her four outfits, stripping down to a bra, panties and fishnet stockings over the course of entrance that may never be topped!
That year’s theme was “Camp: Notes in Fashion” and it was definitely one of the campiest looks of the night!
This year’s event was co-chaired by Lady Gaga, Serena Williams and Harry Styles, along with Gucci designer Alessandro Michele and Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
Brandon Maxwell, who created Gaga’s reveal, helped her navigate the stairs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as she posed with several helpers. Maxwell undressed her further, revealing a black strapless asymmetrical ballgown underneath with a huge side bustle. Then she undressed again to show off a pink dress reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” walking up and down the carpet. But she wasn’t done. Moments later, she undressed again to pose in a glittering bra and panties set, with huge platform shoes.
All hail Billy Porter!
Another jaw-dropping look from the 2019 “Camp”-themed Met Gala features performer Billy Porter who understood the assignment!
Porter walked the Met Gala carpet in an an Egyptian-inspired gold outfit by fashion designer The Blonds that opened up to showcase a set of majestic wings.
However, rather than walk the carpet he was carried in by six men in a move that Vogue dubbed “the most fabulous entrance in Met Gala history.”
Kim Kardashian causes controversy in $4.8M iconic Marilyn Monroe dress
Kim Kardashian fans knew her 2022 Met Gala look would break the red carpet. In fact, many of them predicted that she would wear the exact dress she showed up in.
The dress in question isn’t your average gown — the piece was once worn by Marilyn Monroe while she sang “Happy Birthday” for then-President John F. Kennedy in 1962. Originally priced at $12,000, the Jean Louis-designed dress contains more than 2,500 hand-stitched crystals and reportedly had to be sewn onto Monroe because it was so tight.
Kardashian arrived at the Met Gala with her then-boyfriend Pete Davidson, who was wearing a black tuxedo and shades, alongside Kardashian, who wore Monroe’s figure-hugging nude dress. She even traded her signature black hair for a platinum blonde hairdo.
Kardashian told Vogue on the red carpet that she originally could not fit the gown, but challenged herself to lose 16 pounds in three weeks — and she did.
The gown was last purchased in 2016 by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for $4.81 million through an art auction and earned the title of the most expensive dress in the world. Since then, the iconic gown has been on display in the Ripley’s museum in Orlando, Florida.
And this is where Kim Kardashian comes in.
Kardashian has previously shared that her planned look for the Gala couldn’t be tailored, and fans assumed that she would be pulling from vintage archives based on this hint.
Weeks later, Kardashian and Davidson visited the very Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum that housed the dress. These facts, plus the obvious “Gilded Glamour” — the theme of the 2022 Gala — of the most expensive dress in the world, led fans to easily connect the dots to predict her exact Met Gala look.
Jared Leto brings surprising accessory….his head!
Singer and actor Jared Leto was at his campy greatest at the 2019 Met Gala, flashing a bust of his own head in an-over-the-top red gown.
Rihanna: The queen of the Met Gala
Rihanna is hailed by many, not only as a fashion icon (period!), but as the “Queen of the Met Gala” since her arrival is always one of the most anticipated.
At the 2015 Met Gala, singer Rihanna wore a yellow fur-trimmed robe designed by Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei.
The singer, fashion and makeup mogul told Vogue that the outfit took two years to make leading up to the event.
Lil Nas X stuns in crystals
Lil Nas X attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty” covered in head to toe crystals.
Katy Perry lights up the carpet
The 2019 Met Gala produced another fantastic entrance — this one courtesy of Katy Perry, who is no stranger to campy fashion.
The singer “lit up” the arrival carpet in a fully functioning chandelier!
Zendaya’s magical dress
Here’s another 2019 masterpiece!
Actress and singer Zendaya paid homage to her Disney roots with this Cinderella-style dress that was custom designed by Tommy Hilfiger.
At the start of her walk on the carpet, the dress was gray in color, but thanks to a “magical” wand (and some great LED lights) her dress transformed into a glowing breathtaking dress made for fairytales.
AOC statement dress
New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attended the 2021 Met Gala sporting a white floor-length gown to the formal affair.
But it’s what was on the back of the Brother Vellies by Aurora James gown that had people talking. In large, bright red lettering was the message “Tax the Rich.”
“It’s really about having a real conversation about fairness and equity in our system, and I think this conversation is particularly relevant as we debate the budget and reconciliation bill,” she said.
Some on social media thought the message could be seen as a bit hypocritical, coming at an event that charges tens of thousands of dollars for a ticket where Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is among Hollywood celebrities.
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